Five and a half years ago– July 2007 — I sat at brunch with three close friends — Darla, Steve and Nancy — spilling my soul about my desire to be a professional writer.
I had opened my company, Murphy Media Services, just two years earlier after my secure government job, with all its benefits, perks, raises and a corner office, ended abruptly. I decided to start my own company doing what I had done for nearly 30 years – public relations.
So, at brunch, between bites of eggs benedict and sips of mimosas, I explained how fidgety I was feeling lately. How somewhere, deep down, I knew I should be doing more, something different. Sure, I enjoyed my PR work, but my true passion in life – the thing that made my heart soar — was writing, and I wanted to somehow create a reality where I could earn a living being a full time writer.
You see, I knew wasn’t alone. I learned that morning at brunch that I had at least four people who believed in me…
No one at that table scoffed at me. They knew me well enough. They had heard me many times before wistfully wondering what it would be like to write full time for a living. But, like so many people, I had always taken the practical (and income-earning) path of doing what I had always done – PR. I was good at it, it was comfortable, it didn’t require change or risk. It was safe.
Darla, being the most practical and detailed person at the table, looked me in the eye and said, “Patti, if you want to be a writer, you will do it.” She then took an envelope out of her purse and placed it on the table.
Over the next hour, my friends encouraged me to talk about my dreams and what I wanted to do. Then Darla began to write on the envelope.
It was a contract. Continue Reading…
